Something More
by The-Lone-Lemon
Summary: One of the many instances Natsu and Lucy could have figured out how they really feel about each other. Set during one of my favorite arcs Phantom Lord, Shameless Fluff ahead, I hope you enjoy! NatsuxLucy


Shameless fluff. SHAMELESS. You have been warned. Also, I love Gajeel, but he is still kind of the bad guy for now.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail!

One of the many instances Natsu and Lucy could have figured out how they really feel about each other. Phantom Lord is one my favorite Arcs in the Manga and the Anime. It just gives me a lot of feelings. I hope you enjoy!

The pink T-shirt she was pulling gingerly over her head was uncharacteristically loose for the blond celestial mage. It had sleeves for a change, and a high neckline. There was not a curve-hugging seam in sight, unless you could count the shoulders, but even those would only drape loosely if she could ever manage to pull it up over her head.

It had been two days since the destruction of Phantoms lord, and two days of reconstruction had been completed on Fairy the Tail guildhall.

Lucy, for her part, had not been by to see the improvements that had been planned just yet. She had her own reasons for avoiding the guild; for avoiding her faithful Nakama who had screamed their loyalty to her in the face of certain demise.

Well, almost certain.

The survival of Fairy Tail had been insured by the strength of its members and its master. But Lucy couldn't help but feel she had been much more a part of the problem than the solution. Because of her, because a year ago she had selfishly left without facing her father, because she had run away from her problems instead of taking a stand, she had brought destruction and harm to her new family.

Sitting on the edge of her bed, Lucy had her arms in the sleeves of the pink T shirt. Looking down at her bare torso, she saw she was covered in angry black bruises, reminders that she had spent a good half hour playing punching bag with the Iron Dragon Slayer, helpless to fight back. The deep purple of the bruise on her side was from Gajeel's knee. It spread on her ribs like giant blooming flower, the edges blending with smaller black and blue dots on her arms and mid section, before reaching the large black bruise lower on her hip, where she had been caught by his extending iron arm. The sharp pain in her upper back when she sighed reminded Lucy of her crash into the unforgiving stonewall just before Natsu had found them.

 _Natsu._

She hadn't left any marks of her own during the battle, shackled at the ankle, a prisoner without the means to escape because she had lost her only source of strength, the celestial keys. _' Unless you count my great ball shot on master Jose.'_ While she had been a dead weight during the battle, Natsu had been amazing to watch. The brutality of the dragon slayer duel had been intense. Natsu had pushed far beyond anything Lucy hade ever seen before. But Lucy was starting to expect amazing things from Natsu.

Coming back to her self, Lucy let out a painful breath as she slowly lifted the neck of the shirt over her head, lifting her arms this way _hurt_. Breathing _hurt_ , even sitting _hurt_.

This was the other reason Lucy had for avoiding the guild a few days more. This reminder that she had been so weak, lost her keys, and hardly been able to contribute in a fight that had all been mostly about her. She didn't need to show that to her guild mates.

When she returned to Fairy tail she would be at her happiest and most supportive. The girl who could thank her friends with all her heart, and absorb and accept that they had risked all they had to help her, even if she wasn't worth her weight in a battle.

She just couldn't be that yet. She needed a few more days, so she could at least let the bruising go down a bit. No one should see her this way because no one should feel badly that they had not stopped it from happening. No one should feel worse about her weakness than she did.

The guildhall construction was well under way as the afternoon sun began to sink in the sky. Fairy Tail and its members were happy for the work and proud of the progress. They were working tirelessly to complete their new home. They also really needed someplace to drink so they could celebrate the defeat of Phantom Lord. If you asked Cana that would certainly be her answer.

Natsu and Gray were stacking the last pile of support beams for the day. The happy buzz of those busy working was an excellent motivator to keep them focused on the task at hand. There had been two fire and ice face offs that day, but after lunch, and after the Master had announced the addition of two new guild members, Juvia of the Sea and Gajeel the Iron dragon slayer, Natsu and Gray had found something they agreed on. Neither was thrilled to see the Iron Dragon Slayer bolting beams he had destroyed less than a week ago. There was nothing more unifying than a common enemy.

"Hey have you seen Lucy today?" Gray asked Happy, refusing to speak directly to the blue cats partner, common enemy or not.

Happy was floating at eye level, supervising of course.

"No, not today! I am sure she will want to know about our new members! Hey didn't Juvia and Gajeel both kidnap Lucy at least once in the past week?" Happy looked excitedly at Natsu.

Natsu had spent a good part of the day thinking about his blond partner and wondering what was keeping her away. There were so many awesome things being added to the guildhall, and while it would never be the same as the place he grew up, it was going to have a swimming pool!

" You might be right buddy. I am going to go check on her. Maybe she can't find it because it looks different from the outside?" Natsu grinned cheekily and high fived Happy.

"Aye Sir!"

The surprising sound of weight settling on her windowsill made Lucy react. She had noticed she had been extra jumpy the past few days, but her reflex to sweep out with a super strong Lucy kick was one she immediately regretted when the sudden twisting of her body made her drop to the bed in pain half wearing the pink T-shirt she was struggling to pull over her head. Thank gosh Natsu had started apologizing immediately. If she hadn't heard his voice from the windowsill, she might have had a panic attack.

As soon as Natsu looked down at her on the bed from his perch, his sharp eyes saw what she had been trying to hide, both with her baggy t-shirt and by avoiding the guildhall reconstruction.

"Lucy." With the pink shirt stuck covering her face, Lucy could not see the predatory glint in Natsu's eyes, or notice the way his body had pulled as tight as Sagittarius' bow. However, she did hear the low rumble of his voice as it dropped an octave, settling into that deep timber she was used to hearing when he was getting ready to do battle. This was different though, she had never heard him use that tone with her, they had never battled against each other before.

"Natsu… Help?" On the bed Lucy was attempting to use her arms to try and move the shirt down past her eyes, but laying down her attempts were feeble at best. She would have shift to the side to sit up, but the pulling in her back and side was greatly diminished lying at a new angle.

Instead of feeling her head push fully through the neck and the soft pink cotton coming down to cover the dark and painful blemishes, Lucy heard a deep grunt and a small roaring rumble that shook her mattress.

"What the hell is this Lucy?" Natsu had finally taken care of the shirt, but it had gone in entirely the wrong direction.

Lucy felt the shirt pull up and over her head, and gently slide off her arms. The sharp tug leaving her in only the white sports bra she had struggled into after she had taken a hot bath that afternoon.

The anger rolled off Natsu in waves, the tension in his body a palpable presence in the room. What Lucy could not see was why he was so upset. She did feel guilty for not telling him she wouldn't be around the next few days, but she had figured her new partner would be too busy with the reconstruction efforts to notice.

" Natsu? Are you alright?" She rolled carefully up to a seated position, her slower than normal movements seemed to only increase the weight of Natus's glare, and his lack of response was making her anxious. She could feel the urge to start babbling, her brain seeking to fill the silence.

"Can I have my shirt back? It's a little breezy with the window open, I am not really in the mood to try and get it back myself." When Natus growled and moved suddenly to put his arms on either side of her hips on the bed, Lucy squeaked and sucked on her lower lip to stem the flow of useless questions. This was a new mood for her partner, and while his arms should have felt like a cage, and his obvious temper should have caused her own ire to rise, she felt guilty for avoiding him. And deep down, perhaps in a place she hadn't acknowledged yet, she felt guilty that she hadn't trusted him with her weakness.

Natsu for his part had not answered her yet; his thoughts were a jumbled mixture of rage, furry and confusion. How on earth had this happened to his partner? Sure he hadn't seen her in a day, but she couldn't have gotten into a battle in that amount of time. Could she?

The over whelming thought of 'Who can I kill for this?' was most prominent in the dragon slayers mind. There was a small corner of his subconscious, one he hadn't ever really considered before, that was prodding him persistently. "Protect. Protect what is yours." It was a stronger urge than he had ever felt, one that overwhelmed his normal instincts.

Hearing that squeak out of Lucy was enough for him to take a deep breath through his nose, the smell of her and the slight tinge of her unease, settled his boiling rage enough for him to take a half step back.

"How? How did this happen Lucy?" His tone was still rough and grating, but his concern was evident as well.

Lucy tilted her head and looked up at him. She knew he must have been talking about the unsightly black and blues mottling her mid section. Lucy knew they were a ghastly sight. She just hadn't figured her partner would get this mad about them, or that Natsu hadn't realized Gajeel had taken advantage of those 30 minutes alone with her to try and beat that Fairy Tail persistence out of her.

Like everyone else, he thought she hadn't been in any part of the fight. But just because she had been a prisoner without her keys, didn't mean she couldn't be targeted. It had been a battle, one in which many members of Fairy Tail had been hurt, she included.

"Not everyone can be as tough as dragon scales Natsu." Lucy looked him in the eye with a soft smile, meant to be a thank you for his obvious concern. But Lucy didn't think he needed an explanation, her weakness would be her own. She would keep it and she would use it to get stronger.

It was clear her answer had not satisfied the insistent voice in Natsu's head, the new voice that wouldn't stop growing at him "Protect. Protect what is mine."

He was suddenly close again, his sharp honey golden eyes impossibly hard and soft at the same time. Two rough hands, diffused with fire dragon heat, spread over the darkest bruises, the heat offering relief from the sharpness of the pain.

"No. You don't need to be a dragon; I am a dragon slayer so that you don't have to get hurt this way. Now tell me. When did this happen? Who did this too you?" The intensity was back in his growl, and the demand for answers was startling coming from Natsu. "And where was I?"

Having been his partner for a only a few weeks, Lucy was not expecting this level of commitment to their partnership. Certainly as a run-away who had lost her only caring parent at a young age, she had never felt tis level of commitment from another person before. She had always tried to see herself as independent rather than lonely. Natsu's concern, his raw emotion at the sight of her pain, was something completely new, and completely baffling. She had spent a year wandering on he own and had gotten hurt in some tight spots before. Pain was not new, struggle and self-reliance were two of the most valuable lessons her father had ever taught her.

The self-righteous anger Natsu was feeling on her behalf, the comfort and caring he was bringing into their partnership, every thought and feeling he was offering in that moment was an anomaly to Lucy.

In that moment Lucy knew Natsu would always have her back. And if she ever got hurt, he would get her the justice she deserved. For the first time in her adult life, Lucy had another person she could lean on without fear of desertion or derision.

The dawning of this revelation struck Lucy with almost the same force as Gajeel's knee, with what felt like a sucker punch to her already sore stomach. This was the same feeling that had overwhelmed her as Fairy Tail had rallied behind her, magnified exponentially and crammed into the space of the man standing before her.

"Natsu…" the tears wouldn't stay behind her lashes as she tried hard not to cry. Lucy's arms went out and she asked silently for a hug. She had cried a few times during their Phantom Lord escapade, and her new partner had been right besides her. But this was the first time she was asking him for his physical support.

Natus hugged her in a gentle embrace that was very out of character, the thick bands of muscle in his arms flexed as he held them gently away from her bruises. Lucy could feel him trying to avoid the sore areas on her body, so she squeezed him closer and buried her face in his scaled scarf, so her voice came out muffled, but it vibrated subtly against the skin on his chest.

"It is not important how it happened or where you were. Because right now, you are here and that is all I need to feel better."

She could see that answer still did not satisfy Natsu, but it was as good as he was going to get. After the battle, Mira had told her of Masters intentions to find the Iron dragon slayer and contract him into their Guild. She was not going to give Natsu another thing to fight over. If Levy, who had been crucified and publically shamed by Gajeel, could handle having him around, then so could Lucy.

Her weakness was still her own, but it was no longer the only thing driving her to become strong. The care and compassion of her partner would spur her on. As her tears dried up and she felt the almost too hot hands of her fire dragon slayer partner slowly rubbing the stiffness out of the bruise on her back, Lucy made a vow silently to herself. She would protect him, support him, and help him at every turn, because he deserved that in return for what he offered her.

Fairy Tail was the family she had been missing, but perhaps Natsu was something more.


End file.
